The director of Al-Quds Center for Political Studies, Oraib al-Rantawi, is one of the most followed daily columnists in the Arab world, especially when it comes to Palestinian affairs. Rantawi, a Jordanian of Palestinian origin, devoted two successive columns on June 8-9 to the effects of the ongoing Gulf drama to the demise of the Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas.
Rantawi made a direct connection in his June 8 column between the escalation against Qatar and the May 20 Arab summit with US President Donald Trump in Riyadh. “Trump lumped Hamas with the Islamic State, Jabhat al-Nusra and Hezbollah in his terrorism list, while attending Arab Islamic leaders were quiet.”
The well-read analyst said that what is strange is that the four Arab countries that decided to boycott Qatar — namely Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt — have not listed Hamas on their terror blacklist. “Egypt welcomed on the same day a delegation headed by Yahya Sinwar, the hawkish Gaza Hamas leader, and Saudi Arabia had in 2015 welcomed Khaled Meshaal, the head of Hamas’ political bureau, while the UAE’s favorite exiled Palestinian leader, Mohammed Dahlan, openly proclaims his good relationship with Hamas.”
Regardless of their positions toward Hamas, there is no doubt that in the post-Trump visit to Saudi Arabia, a new order has been established.
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